Cayman Islands or Turks and Caicos?

Both have superb white sand and clear, calm water, so the difference is in kind. Grand Cayman's beach life is concentrated on Seven Mile Beach, one long sheltered strand on the west side, where most hotels stand and you can snorkel straight from the sand at Cemetery Beach. For shallower, quieter water you drive to the lagoons at Rum Point and Starfish Point on the north side.

Turks and Caicos gives you more variety. Grace Bay is kept calm by its reef, Taylor Bay and Sapodilla Bay are shallow enough to wade far out, and Long Bay catches the wind. Boats run out to quiet cays such as Pine Cay and Fort George Cay, and Grand Turk and Salt Cay are emptier still.

Grand Cayman is clearly the better place to eat. Alongside the steakhouses, sushi and seafood rooms on Seven Mile Beach and in Camana Bay, there's a real local layer: turtle stew, fish cooked Cayman style with peppers and onion, cassava cake, and weekend shacks by the water in West Bay, Bodden Town and the East End.

Turks and Caicos eats more narrowly. Conch in its many forms and spiny lobster are the highlights, and the Blue Hills fish fry is the most local meal. Otherwise you'll eat at competent but international resort grills along Grace Bay.

Neither is a culture destination, but the heritage sits in different places. On Grand Cayman it's all on the island you're staying on: the restored great house at Pedro St James, the National Museum in George Town's old courthouse and the National Gallery fit easily into half a day.

In Turks and Caicos the most atmospheric heritage means a flight to Grand Turk. There you'll find the Bermudian-style houses of Cockburn Town, the remains of the Molasses Reef wreck in the National Museum, and the salt ponds that also survive on Salt Cay. Providenciales itself has little beyond the Cheshire Hall ruins.

The Caymans offer more of a night out, though neither destination goes late. George Town's waterfront decks, the beach bars on Seven Mile Beach and a handful of small clubs draw an expat and local crowd on Fridays, and things run until around midnight or one.

Turks and Caicos has no clubs at all. Evenings mean sunset drinks in Grace Bay's resort lounges and beach bars, now and then with a local band, and most places wind down well before the small hours.

Underwater, the Caymans lead. Bloody Bay Wall off Little Cayman is a Caribbean classic, Grand Cayman adds the North Wall, wrecks and many shore-dive entry points, and Stingray City and the bioluminescent bay are memorable away from the dives. On land you have the Mastic Trail's dry forest, the blue iguanas at the botanic park, and the caves and climbing on Cayman Brac's bluff.

Turks and Caicos has its own strengths: reef snorkelling off the Caicos Islands, a dive wall close to shore off Grand Turk, and humpback whales near Salt Cay from about January to April. Chalk Sound is good for kayaking and Long Bay for kiteboarding, but there's less to explore overall.

Turks and Caicos gives you more reason to leave your base. A ferry to North Caicos and a drive over the causeway to Middle Caicos make a full day among quiet settlements and empty shores, and Grand Turk and Salt Cay are close enough by air for a day out.

From Grand Cayman, the East End and Rum Point are only half a day's drive. The sister islands are a flight away, and most people who go stay a few nights rather than return the same day.

Both work well for a family beach vacation, but the Caymans give children more to do away from the sand. They can stand among stingrays in waist-deep water, visit the turtle farm in West Bay, see the blue iguanas or take a submarine ride. Starfish Point is perfect for toddlers, though summer is very hot.

Turks and Caicos relies more on the resorts. Large Grace Bay properties have kids' clubs and pools, and Smith's Reef and Bight Reef let older children snorkel with turtles right off the beach. Restless teenagers may run out of things to do sooner.

Grand Cayman is the easier of the two. Minibuses link West Bay, Seven Mile Beach and George Town, and parts of the strip are walkable, although you'll want a hire car for the East End and the north side, and evening buses are thin.

Providenciales has no useful public transport, so you'll rely on taxis or a car to reach Chalk Sound, the south-side bays or the ferry dock. Going further means combining ferry, car and small plane, which is why many visitors simply stay on Grace Bay.

George Town's duty-free waterfront gives the Caymans a little more to browse. Jewellery and watch shops line it for the cruise passengers, and Camana Bay adds bookshops, boutiques and galleries. Caymanite carvings, made from the islands' own banded stone, are the distinctive local buy.

On Grace Bay, shopping comes down to a few small open-air plazas with resortwear and galleries. The best things to take home are the straw baskets and hats woven on North and Middle Caicos, and sea salt from the old salt islands.

Both are among the most expensive places in the Caribbean, with imported food, costly taxis and upmarket beachfront rooms, so neither is the cheaper option. The ways to save differ a little. In the Caymans it's a condo with a kitchen and meals at jerk stands. In Turks and Caicos it's a villa shared by a group and the local conch shacks, while inter-island flights push costs up further.

Evenings of performance are thin in both places, and the highlights are street festivals. Grand Cayman at least has the Harquail Theatre for local drama and dance, plus Batabano carnival in spring and Pirates Week in autumn. Turks and Caicos has no theatre, but its ripsaw music, played on a carpenter's saw, is a genuine local sound, and Maskanoo brings a masked parade at Christmas.

Neither has a bathing tradition, and rest in both comes from a slow island pace and resort spas. Turks and Caicos goes slightly further thanks to its private island resorts on the cays north of Providenciales, such as Parrot Cay, where yoga and treatments are the whole point of the stay. In the Caymans the spas belong to the big Seven Mile Beach resorts, and the most restful corner is Little Cayman with its dive lodges and empty roads.